The Science of the Rishis: The Spiritual and Material Discoveries of the Ancient Sages of India

Bhutatmaaya Namaha!

Salutations to the Self in Every Creature!

INTRODUCTION

The Scientific Vision of the Rishis

After a study of some forty years and more of the great religions of the world, I find none so perfect, none so scientific, none so philosophic, and none so spiritual as the great religion known by the name of Hinduism. The more you know it, the more you will love it; the more you try to understand it, the more deeply you will value it.

ANNIE BESANT

Satyam eva jayati naanrutam.

Truth alone shall prevail, not falsehood.

MUNDAKA UPANISHAD

What is truth and how is it to be known? Time alone is the touchstone of truth. The universe exists on truth and anything that is not founded on truth is automatically deleted by time. India has maintained the longest, unbroken continuity of civilization in the world. The ideas and beliefs of Hinduism—based on the eternal verities, satyam, ahimsa, and dharma, truth, nonviolence, and righteousness—have existed from time immemorial.

There was no antagonism between science and religion in India as there was in the West, since the religion is based on scientific truths. One ancient Hindu scripture, the Ishavasya Upanishad, says that there are two types of understanding, vidya and avidya. The interpretation given in the Upanishad is that vidya is eternal, experiential, spiritual knowledge or para vidya, while avidya is external, experimental, material knowledge or apara vidya. We should make use of the second to guide our lives so that we are led to the first. Unless both these types of knowledge are integrated into our lives, we will end up being blind or lame, as Einstein put it.

One who believes that science alone can take away all the miseries of life is like a blind man entering a dark room. However, one who believes that escaping the miseries of life can only be achieved by chanting mantras in the solitude of a cave is also entering blinding darkness. Hinduism has never held that blind faith can lead to liberation or that science alone can give you a utopian life. Both science and faith are necessary for a fulfilled life.

Most of the Westerners who came to India in the early part of the last century were totally incapable of appreciating the wonders of this ancient knowledge. This is because Hinduism is a most obscure and difficult religion to understand. What is generally exposed to the common eye is only the surface of a deep pond, which contains a treasure of gems that are not easily revealed to the cursory glance. Hinduism is as difficult for the uninitiated to understand as quantum physics for the layperson.

Actually, the word Hinduism is a misnomer. It was the name given by Westerners to those who lived below the Indus River. The actual name of Hinduism is Sanatana Dharma or the way of eternal righteousness. This is the ancient law by which this cosmos has been created, sustained, and destroyed.

People have asked me how I dared to write about physics, which is an alien subject for me. My answer is that my in-depth knowledge of Hinduism has made it easy for me to understand quantum physics. The first time I read The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, I was struck with wonder, for I instinctively understood what the physicist was trying to say. At the same time, many of the abstruse points in the Bhagavad Gita suddenly became crystal clear to me. Later, when I went through the Puranas (stories of gods written by the sage Vyasa), I was again struck at the amazing ways in which the great saints of the Puranas—Vyasa and Valmiki—had woven great scientific truths into their stories. These scientific truths are not what the ancient Western world believed to be true but the truths of the most modern kind—that of quantum physics.

One fact hit me like a sledgehammer—that right from the Vedas (the most ancient scriptures) to the Puranas, everything was completely scientific. For obvious reasons the sages did not expose this fact to the common eye. If we of the modern age, who are quite used to so many technical facilities, which we accept as commonplace, find it impossible to understand quantum physics, how much more would it have been impossible for people to understand what the sages were trying to say at a time when even things like ordinary matches were unheard of!

Sanatana Dharma is a living relic of the ancient past of not just India but the past of the whole history of humanity. Many of the forms of Hindu culture today are the same as they were more than ten thousand years ago. The ancient world never died in India. It still remains and can be contacted everywhere. The scientists of this culture were known as rishis. The credit for ensuring that this culture never died goes to them. They were both philosopher-saints and scientists and existed from the dawn of the Indian civilization, which is the dawn of time. The sages desired that humanity should progress materially as well as through a constant inner renewal of the cosmic law of righteousness, guided by the wisdom embedded in our scriptures.

What exactly is science? Science is something that tries to discover the different laws of nature. The ancient rishis who were the custodians of our culture were the greatest scientists ever known. There was nothing that they didn’t know about Nature. She did not hide any of her abstruse wisdom from them. The rishis had extraordinary powers or siddhis. They could control the elements, travel with ease in the astral worlds, cover vast distances rapidly through the sky without any aircraft, catch sound and light waves in their minds and discern what was happening miles away. Their look could penetrate rocks and drill holes in metals, and they could have anything they wanted just by formulating a wish in their minds. No other civilization except the present one has reached such heights of knowledge as they had achieved.

Their knowledge of science in many fields, like mathematics, geometry, astrology, astronomy, and physics, was immense. Without the use of modern instrumentation, they were able to discover more things about this universe than what was discovered up to the nineteenth century by Western scientists. They knew that the earth went around the sun, that we are living in an expanding universe, and that matter is only energy in motion. They calculated the distance of stars and planets and could foretell the coming of the different comets. They even wrote predictions about the lives of people who would come after them. They could conjure up cities and palaces and wondrous meals and aerial vehicles even though they did not choose those things for their own lifestyle.

Unlike this culture that craves material wealth, they deemed that all knowledge of the external world was inferior knowledge and the highest knowledge was that of the true Self or Brahman. The experience of Brahman reveals the unity of life that underlies all living things. From this is born a tremendous love for all creatures and a deep desire to see human beings free themselves from the illusions and limitations in which they are involved. Love always wants to share what it gets and thus the rishis did everything in their power to unfold this Reality to the rest of humankind. They have opened our eyes to a world of mystery and beauty, not one of arid facts. If we could only behave in the way that they have taught us, we would certainly have made a heaven on earth. However, the rishis were aware of human limitations and sought methods to surmount them. As Reality can only be known by direct experience, they tried many types of methods called yogas in order to share this truth with the masses.

They were a special type of scientists, which we can call spiritual scientists. They realized that the foundation of the universe as well as of the human being is spiritual, not material. All the gross objects we see in the world actually have their source in the subtle, and not vice versa, as Western science would have us believe. Like Western scientists, the rishis also looked at the world and sought to find out the basic constituents of everything. However, unlike Western scientists, they realized that they would never find the meaning of anything in the world if they did not know the laws governing the functioning of their minds. So psychology—which is such a baby science in the West—was the first science that the rishis explored. They realized that the world existed because of the human mind and unless they learned to control the mind, they would never be able to find the meaning of anything in the universe, far less control it.

The intellect is the most powerful and versatile instrument known to us. Scientists make use of it to prize open the mysteries of the universe. It has led us to split the atom and reach the moon, but when it comes to discovering the truth of our innermost self, the intellect is confounded. It is capable of analyzing any object. It is a highly efficient instrument for objective study, but the rishis realized that it is sadly inadequate when it comes to subjective analysis.

When the Self itself becomes the object of study, the intellect is unable to surmount its inherent weakness and analyze itself. The Self is the torch that lights up the intellect, so how can it see itself? In other fields of investigation, the investigator is different from the object of investigation, but here the investigator is being investigated by himself! Sugar can never know the taste of tea. It can only dissolve in it and become one with it. The rishis devised a means by which the intellect could become so subtle that it could be dissolved. They found that in the state of deep meditation the intellect becomes so subtle that it dissolves like sugar into the object of investigation, which is the Self itself. Thus, the intellect’s search for the Self ends in a glorious experience of the Divine rather than a comprehension of it.

The Divine of the Sanatana Dharma is a Universal Being or Paramatma, who transcends all boundaries of time, space, and causation. This Being is not bound to just the Hindus or even human beings but is available to the whole of creation. It has existed always and will continue to exist even if no one believes in It. It is the ultimate truth of everything and everyone. That being its foundation, Hinduism is the most tolerant religion in the world. As a goal-oriented religion, it offers us many paths of approach to God, which cater to different types of personalities. It does not insist that there is only one path and one way to approach the Paramatma or the Supreme. There are many paths and many ways.

Hinduism is accused of being pluralistic but pluralism means freedom—freedom of choice. It has no overall authority that dictates what every Hindu should or should not do. The first charter of human rights and liberties was given by Hinduism to every human being. The rishis have catered to every type of person. No one is cast out of the loving arms of this Divine Mother. Everyone is given freedom to worship god in his or her own way as suited to his or her own personality. We can take as many lives as we want but eventually every soul will be liberated. This is the beautifully consoling clarion call of Hinduism. Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, Kaunteya pratijanihi, na me bhakta pranasyati—O Arjuna I give you my solemn promise that my devotee will never perish.

Anything that is static and stagnant will eventually decay and die. Just as water has to flow in order to keep itself free of impurities, so also a religion must have the ability to grow. Many of the highly evolved ancient religions of countries like Egypt and Mesopotamia have been wiped off the face of the earth with the passage of time, whereas Hinduism has had the ability to evolve with the changing times. It can be compared to a banyan tree, which has spreading branches reaching out with ever more new shoots. That is why we find more religions within the Hindu faith than there are in the rest of the world put together. Though its fundamental concepts are ancient, it is capable of accepting and even welcoming all new ideas that are consistent with dharma or righteousness.

In keeping with the Vedic injunction that a guest should be treated with as much hospitality as one would treat a visiting divinity, Hinduism has always been gracious to the followers of other religions, and respectful of their gods, scriptures, and customs. The tolerance and openness of Hinduism has been historically unprecedented in the community of world religions and has been universally acclaimed. Unfortunately, in our headlong rush to devolve Hinduism of anything that might seem to even remotely resemble the closeminded sectarianism sometimes found in other religions, we tend to forget the obvious truth that Hinduism is itself a systematic and self-contained religious tradition in its own right. It is true that Hinduism is not an organized religion. It has no hierarchy of priests or popes or cardinals who impose orders that are obligatory on everyone.

However, like every other religion, Hinduism has a distinct and unique tradition, with its own built-in beliefs, worldview, traditions, rituals, concept of the Absolute, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, cosmology, cosmogony, and theology. The grand, systematic philosophical edifice that we call Hinduism today is the result of the extraordinary efforts and spiritual insights of the rishis, yogis, acharyas, and great gurus of our religion, guided by the transcendent light of the Vedic revelations, which has stood the test of time and withstood the onslaught and challenges of countless other cultures.

The time has come to allow the whole world to realize their inheritance, for the rishis did not intend the great secrets of the Vedas to be confined to India alone but wanted everything to be shared by all. In order to honor their desire, this book introduces the foundational texts, concepts, and profound insights bequeathed to us by the rishis, revealing their scientific knowledge, now being confirmed by the latest scientific discoveries, as well as conveying the depth and beauty of their transformative vision.

I conclude this introduction by offering my total and wholehearted prostrations at the feet of those rishis—Vasishta, Vishvamitra, and many others—who were the great gurus of our land as well as to the sages, Vyasa and Valmiki, who alone have inspired and given me the courage to write this book.

The Creator is perfect,

He possesses perfect power,

Whence is created perfect Nature.

The perfect universe derives life

From the perfect Creator.

Let us comprehend this perfect power

That bestows life on all beings.

ATHARVA VEDA

Loka Samasthath Sukhino Bhavantu!

Let the whole world be happy, healthy, and contented!

Shaswataaya Namaha!

Salutations to the Eternal!

1

The Rishis

Spiritual Scientists at the Dawn of Time

India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great-grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most constructive materials in the history of man are treasured in India only.

MARK TWAIN

From our Mother, the Dawn, may we be born as the seven seers, the original men of wisdom. May we become the sons of Heaven, the Angirasa seers. May we break open the mountain and illumine the Reality.

Just as our ancient and supreme Fathers, O sacred Fire, seeking the Truth, following the clear insight sustaining the chant, broke through Heaven and Earth and received the radiant Spirit.

RIG VEDA 4.2.15–16

The rishis are the ones who gave us our heritage, our culture, and our way of life, known as the Sanatana Dharma. The word rishi is derived from an obscure Sanskrit root meaning to see, for they were the seers or the hearers of the Vedic hymns that came from the mouth of Brahma. The word also designates a singer of sacred hymns, an inspired poet or sage, any person who can invoke the deities in rhythmical speech or song of a sacred character. It might also have been derived from the Dravidian word aric, meaning wise man, sage, astrologer, seer.

The four holy books known as the Vedas are considered to be anadi or without beginning and apaurusheya or not the work of man. The modern mind, hemmed with notions of time and space, can hardly accept such statements. So Western scholars say that the rishis or sages wrote the Vedic hymns. However, the rishis would be the first to deny this statement. The rishis called themselves mantra drashtas or the seers of the mantras, not the composers of the mantras. When we say that Newton discovered the law of gravity, it does not mean that he actually created it but that he brought an existing fact to the notice of the world. Likewise, the rishis cognized the mantras already in existence in etheric space and made them known to us. These mantras, like the laws of Nature, have always existed. As the rishis were the ones who brought the already existing mantras to our conscious knowledge, we always bow to their memory when repeating the mantras.

According to modern methods of calculating time, the Vedas must have been cognized by the rishis at the dawn of time, before the creation of language as we know it. At that time the world was still in its infancy, and the human being was only another animal, hunting for food and digging for roots and fruits. Those were the days when humans existed without proper food, clothing, or housing, and certainly not much of vocabulary. They had no names for the sun, moon, or any of the natural phenomena, even though they could see them. They were sitting, eating, talking, and so on, but had no names for any of these functions. In that inconceivable past, the divine knowledge of the Vedas was revealed to a set of superhuman beings with high receptivity, extraordinary memory, and an understanding far beyond that of even the most intelligent of modern human beings. Psychologists say that even a most intelligent human being like Einstein uses only 10 percent of his brain capacity, and the rest of us far less. From this we can guess that these beings were using 100 percent of their brain power. We can imagine that it was only with the revelation of the Vedas that the concept of communication was manifested in the world, by which the human being could not only converse with his fellow beings but also forge a link with posterity.

WHO WERE THE RISHIS?

Thousands of years have passed since this divine knowledge was first revealed to a small group of seers, traditionally named as Agni, Vayu, Aditya, and Angiras. Who exactly were these rishis? We know nothing about them but their names, but if we pause a moment to look at the amazing revelation of the Vedas, we will no doubt be struck with awe as to the nature of these seers. These spiritual giants lived in the Himalayas and strode across the Indo-Gangetic plains long before the dawn of historic time. They were the sublime expression of the perfect human being, the crown and cream of Nature’s evolutionary cycle. These men were really suprahuman, multi sensory beings who had the gift of inner vision and were able to seethe past, present, and future as one huge canvas unrolling in front of them. They could go to the realms of the gods and demons, the demigods, and the titans of mythological lore and describe the events that went on at that time and even describe things that would take place at a future time.

Then came another group of rishis, or seers, with stupendous memory, who passed on this knowledge to successive generations. In India these great beings seem to have taken birth again and again in every age to keep up the Sanatana Dharma, which they cognized at the beginning of the world! It was indeed miraculous that in that misty morn of the universe there existed such beings that appeared to have attained the fulfillment of all human life, which has not been attained by the majority of humankind even in this age. This has led to the supposition that the rishis had an extraterrestrial origin. Considering the times in which they cognized the hymns, this is a very plausible